A Tale of Three Suppers

It's been mentioned, on more than one occasion, that one of the things The Singer appreciates about me is my ability to look in the fridge and pull out a few ingredients and come up with something tasty and wholesome. Honestly, it's one of those things I take for granted. It's with this in mind, that I present a Tale of Three Suppers. Each dish consisted of the same basic ingredients; chicken, pasta, broccoli, carrot and onion. However, like Lego, they can go together in a number different ways.

Typically though, I'll use 3-4 chicken breasts, two things of broccoli (whatever is banded together), three or so carrots and a medium onion. Along with half a pound of dry pasta, we tend to get 4-5 meals out of one of these meals.

Part the First
I'm a sucker for a good alfredo sauce, and by good, I mean warm, creamy with enough garlic to know that it's there. When I first lived on my own and didn't know much better, I used a powdered mix which was... ok. It wasn't until recently, that I found my new favourite recipe:

Alfredo Sauce (adapted from allrecipes.com)

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup 1% milk
1/2 cup half and half cream
1-2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
some quantity of parmesan cheese (I just keep adding till it feels right)
salt and pepper

One thing to note - you'll want to continually stir as you add the parmesan cheese. I've found things get clumpy if I dont, but then I've not invested in a piece of parmesan and grated it right there. I tend to use the pregrated stuff.

Mix with pasta, chicken and veggies. The picture above is from an earlier attempt (notice the distinct lack of broccoli).

Part the Second
What I really look for in a sauce is something that I want to suck out of the broccoli, because let's face it... that little vegetable is a great mop for saucy goodness. So, it made me really happy to subvert a vegetarian sweet garlic sauce recipe.

I'll serve this over rice, and if I'm feeling really ambitious, I'll heat up some eggrolls. Yes, I've made eggrolls from scratch in the past, and it's a huge pain in the arse. A few of the No-Name, vegetarian brand and you have a fairly cheap Chinese-esque meal.

Part the Third
Pasta. Pesto. Presto!

What I mean to say is basically, I take veggies and the chicken, add in the pasta and toss in a dollop of pesto. Serve with The Singer's patented garlic bread, and mmm... garlicy goodness. I try to avoid making this on nights she has choir. =)

Invariably, we'll have left overs for a couple days of lunches each. It's really made a difference in the wallet.